But we mustn't go too far back†in anybody's life† Because if we do†then nobody is to blame for anything, and nothing matters, and everything is allowed.

-Amis, Martin Louis
  London Fields, ch.10.

Wouldn't Take Nothing for my Journey Now.

-Angelou, Maya originally MayaJohnson
  Title of book.

Nothing in excess.

-Anonymous
Famous motto in  Antiquity.  According to Plato, the text was a temple inscription in Delphi (Hipparchus, 228e).

To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.

-Anonymous
Inscription on a pillow given Claudia ('Lady Bird')  Johnson by her staff. Quoted in Life,  Apr1995.

Nothing has raised more questioning among my critics thanthese wordsönoble, thegrand style† Ithink it will be found that the grand style arises in poetry, when a noble nature, poetically gifted, treats with simplicity or with severity a serious subject.

-Arnold, Matthew
  On Translating Homer; Last Words.

There is nothing to it.You only have to hit the right notes at the right time and the instrument plays itself.

-Bach,Johann Sebastian
Of the organ. Quoted in K Geiringer The Bach Family (1954).

Nothing matters very much, and very few things matter at all.

-Balfour, ArthurJames Balfour, 1st Earl
Attributed.

Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!

-Beckett, Samuel
  Waiting for Godot, act1.

Tout est faux, il n'y a personne†il n'y a rien. Everything is false. There is no one†there is nothing.

-Beckett, Samuel
  Nouvelles et textes pour rien.

I looked out for what the metropolitan reviewers would have to say. They seemed to fall into two classes: those who had little to say and those who had nothing.

-Beerbohm, Sir (Henry) Max(imilian)
  Seven Men,'Enoch Soames'.

   Nay: but Iwill surely buy it oftheeat a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which dost cost me nothing.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Samuel 24:24.

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Lamentations1:12.

Be not made a beggar by banqueting upon borrowing, when thou hast nothing in thy purse: for thou shalt lie in wait for thine own life, and be talked on.

-Bible (Apocrypha)
Ecclesiasticus18:33.

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Matthew 5:13.

Asunknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

-Bible (NewTestament)
Corinthians 6:9^10.

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

-Bible (NewTestament)
  Timothy 6:7^8.

Aut Caesar, aut nihil. Either Caesar or nothing.

-Borgia, Cesare
Motto. It goes back to a couplet composed in1507, after Borgia's death, by Fausto Maddalena Romano:'Borgia Caesar erat, factis et nomine Caesar, /aut nihil, aut Caesar dixit: utrumque fuit.' (Borgiawas Caesar: hewas Caesar in name andinfact. He said / Either Caesar, or nothing: he was both.)

I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry.

-Cage,John
  'Lecture on Nothing'.

Entre le pe¤  nis et les mathe¤  matiques†il n'existe rien. Rien! Between the penis and mathematics†there's nothing. Nothing!

-Destouches
  Voyage au bout de la nuit ( Journey to the End of Night, translated by John H P Marks,1960).

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

-Colton, Charles Caleb
  Lacon, vol.1, no.183.